Attack on journalists: Moily blames Karnataka govt

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 - 19:54:15 |

Source: S.O. News Service/ PTI | Posted by: Sub Editor

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Bangalore: Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily on Saturday sought to blame the BJP government in Karnataka for the attack on journalists, saying it failed to act beforehand as trouble was brewing for some time. Moily, a former Karnataka Chief Minister, described yesterday's incidents at the civil court complex here as "very shocking" and that "we should hang our head in shame".

"This cannot happen. Why these things should happen in Karnataka, Bangalore in particular?", he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

"I don't think all of a sudden it (yesterday's incidents) must have happened," he said, adding that the government should have acted on information (intelligence) it had.

"This has been brewing since sometime according to my understanding and you (the government) allow that to escalate. You should have stopped it long back," Moily said.

A section of advocates attacked journalists who had come to cover the proceedings of the Special CBI court where mining baron G Janardhana Reddy was produced. Several journalists and scores of policemen were injured in the incident.

The lawyers apparently targeted the journalists for "negative coverage" of the January 17 episode, when hundreds of advocates poured into the busy K G Road protesting "shabby treatment" of one their colleagues by police, triggering a seven-hour gridlock inconveniencing the public.

Asked if a judicial enquiry that the government has ordered is the "solution", Moily said, "What will happen with judicial probe? What kind of investigation will happen?".

He said the government, media and the legal community should sit together and resolve the differences and see that such incidents do not recur, adding that one has to get to the root of the problem.